The other other white meat

20 12 2009

images

”Oh no, not turkey. It®s always so dry”.

Or this one: ”Turkey. Been there, done that. This year we®re having duck”.

My brother Curtis lives in Trondheim, a Norwegian city full of Vikings with big-assed moustaches who drink moonshine disguised as coffee. Curtis is a pescatarian (yes, thatÂŽs a real word). He eats halibut for Christmas dinner.

I live in Stavanger, a Norwegian city known for its expats, its pietism and its wannabe cultural status. Stavanger is a moustache-free zone, and the coffee is for the most part just coffee. I am a carnivore (also a real word), and my family and I eat 2 œ Christmas dinners each year.

The first dinner-and-a-half is of Norwegian origin. My mother-in-law makes traditional pinnekjĂžtt (very loosely translated as stick-meat): dried ribs of lamb or mutton. The meat is generally boiled or steamed, and the adventurous give the ribs a turn in the oven right before eating to crisp-up the whole affair.

PinnekjÞtt at svigermorŽs house is acccompanied by boiled potatoes, kohlrabi purée, pickled beets, pickled small onions, pickled pickles, and melted butter. IŽm not a big fan of pinnekjÞtt, though I give it a new chance each year on Christmas Eve. Between you and me: pinnekjÞtt has always reminded me of a dish one might be served whilst serving time.

The Norwegians, including the severely-moustached, also have other Christmas Eve favorites. Lutefisk (yes, as in ”Fargo” lutefisk) is one of them, but the most popular of all is ribbe, simply oven-roasted pork ribs.

Pork, better known as ”the other white meat”, is my favorite of all the meats. And I love pork ribs: barbecued ribs, short ribs, Asian ribs; all ribs, including the Norwegian ribbe. If it wasn®t for turkey, I might make this dish my Christmas favorite.

Several years ago I asked my mother-in-law if I could bring a couple of kilos of ribbe to the Christmas Eve dinner. She graciously accepted, though I am quite sure she felt this gesture was both unnecessary and a bit odd. My foil-wrapped ribbe is now an accepted, and almost expected, part of our yearly dinner.

As with any respectable Christmas meal, it is cusomary that one eat way too much of everything. And this is just fine by me.

The 1st Christmas Day, as it is called over here

Norwegians canÂŽt believe that many of us Americans actually postpone Christmas to December 25th. Over here we get the job done on Christmas Eve, a custom which in a way makes perfect sense. On the other hand I believe in respecting tradition. Therefore I am now respecting both December 24th and the 25th.

Christmas Day is also called the 1st Day of Christmas. This year the big day falls on a Thursday. That makes Friday the 2nd Christmas Day, Saturday the 3rd, and so on. And it is the 1st Day of Christmas we Okies do our celebratinÂŽ.

The day after porking out at svigemorÂŽs, we do the same at our house. And even though I start the dinner preparations a couple of days ahead of time, I still manage to use the entire 1XD (thatÂŽs 1st Christmas Day in telephone-texting lanuage), to get the dinner ready. I also am yet to serve the dinner at the agreed upon time, something which I am always reminded of, generally on said dayÂŽs busiest moment.

On Christmas Day we pork out on the other other white meat: turkey. My grandmother Pokey (Pocahontas Storm Emerson; this would make her my fatherÂŽs svigermor) always made a huge spread for Christmas dinner, and I also do my utmost to make as much out of this meal as I possibly can.

Pokey made bread stuffing, and I make cornbread stuffing, but otherwise my dinner resembles the dinners she made, just in a slightly smaller scale. I always ask my sons which pies they want to eat (this year itÂŽs pumpkin and apple), but Pokey made at least 4 different desserts. My Christmas dinner will never ever top hers, but the meal is always tasty, the turkey never dry, and hey, tradition is tradition. The wife and kids are happy, ditto the parents- and brothers-in-law, and even with the pig-a-thon from the day before, I still manage to enjoy this meal more than any other during the entire year.

The importance of writing stuff down, double-checking and checking again

The secret to a successful meal, at least when more than a couple of people are eating it, is having a good plan. It always hurts a bit to say something positive about the French, but they have a great expression for having a good plan called mise en place. This expression means making lists, double-checking all ingredients, slicing and dicing ahead of time all that can be sliced or diced, and in general having enough inner peace that one can concentrate on the meal at hand when the ball starts rolling.

I am the zen master of mise en place when Christmas Day rolls around, mostly because the meal would easily end up a disaster if I didnÂŽt do some serious planning. I awake to lists of things to do, and after a wake up glass of iced tea IÂŽm ready to roll.

Here is a complete list of what we eat for Christmas dinner, a repeat of Christmases Past:

A whole fresh turkey from the Stange farm in the eastern part of Norway

Dressing (as Pokey always called it; also known as stuffing) with cornbread, onion, pecans, homemade sausage, chicken stock, butter and fresh sage

Mashed potatoes (weighty with all that butter and cream)

Cranberry sauce

Sweet potatoies with marshmallows

Corn

PokeyÂŽs Green Beans (with bacon, butter and ground pepper)

Dinner rolls (which my now grown-up kids still call ”chef hats”)

Honey butter (for the rolls)

Gravy (of course)

Pies for dessert

As far as drink goes, itÂŽs iced tea right up the the minute the dinner is served. Then itÂŽs of course wine, both red and white. The white wine is always chardonnay aged in oak barrels, and the red changes a bit from year to year. Zinfandel is good, also a sangiovese-based wine from Tuscany or a pinot noir from the States or good old France.

ItÂŽs now T minus 4 days to turkey dinner and I canÂŽt wait. Since anyone reading this blog who has English as their mother tongue, doesnÂŽt even remotely care about MY Christmas dinner recipes, I will print the recipes in Norwegian. Wax back that hefty moustache, put on the coffee and enjoy!

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Beans, beans, theyÂŽre good for your heart

30 07 2009

dentedbakedbeans1“How can you talk if you havenÂŽt got a brain?” (Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz”)

Not that it really helps my situation at all.


The Fart Game

A brain fart is “a lapse in the thought process; an inability to think or remember something clearly”.

My computer had a serious brain fart about a month ago. This is one of those brain farts where the things one once knew – never, ever come back. This lapse in the thought process is permanent; the inability to think or remember, again, permanent.

My computer died. It was a scary, Stephen King-kind-of-gory death. No returning zombies. No returning vampires. Just dead and gone, and IÂŽm not happy about it.

To make a very long story very short: My hard disc crashed and burned, and worse, oh much worse, my supposedly hardworking backup disc was completely empty. After exhausting all possibilities of retrieving any information, I sit here now with a machine stripped of, well, pretty much everything.

Help me People!

To any of you who I have had e-mail contact with, I would appreciate your sending me the latest correspondence so that I can start the process of rebuilding. At this point there is no such thing as too much information. Any help is greatly appreciated.

In the meantime I still need to eat. I finished up a successful Gladmat festival last weekend, with perfect weather and loads of people. ItÂŽs always great to see the faces of folks you havenÂŽt seen in ages. In addition to the usual pulled pork and Hot Links, we also served babyback ribs. And baked beans joined coleslaw and potato salad for the sides menu.

Working at the festival is fun but tiring, and the already iffy eating habits always take a turn for the worse. My standard meal last week was a hotdog bun with pulled pork. Good, oh you bet, but hey …

The weekÂŽs highlight came on Saturday. For breakfast I ate komle (traditional Norwegian potato dumplings – damn good) with salt lamb, sausage and purĂ©e of kohlrabi). One last pulled pork dog for lunch and a couple of bites of sushi to round off the day. Interesting.

Beans, beans, the magical fruit …

IÂŽd give pretty much anything I could muster up if I could get back all the information that died with my computer. Exceptions here would be the first born and/or the left nut. But pretty much anything else.

Instead IÂŽll try to get my eating habits back to normal. And as always several of the featured dishes will include beans. Beans are one of the Great Gifts in the world of food. The Mexicans know this, but also the Italians, the French, the Germans, the Chinese and a bunch of other folks. And so do the Americans.

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SpĂžr Grillkongen om grilling

24 06 2009

Det er sommer, vi har nettopp passert Sankthans, sola skinner og vi har lyst til Ä fyre opp grillen. Men hvordan fÄr du grillmaten til Ä bli aldeles perfekt?

Craig Whitson svarer pÄ dine spÞrsmÄl fra klokka 14.

Craig Whitson svarer pÄ dine spÞrsmÄl fra klokka 14.

Fra klokka 14 i dag (onsdag 24. juni) sitter Grillkongen Craig Whitson klar til Ä svare pÄ dine spÞrsmÄl om grilling, grillmat og deilig tilbehÞr. Klikk nedenfor, og still dine spÞrsmÄl i nettpraten pÄ CoverItLive. Du kan ogsÄ stille spÞrsmÄl pÄ Twitter, bruk emnetegn #grill.

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Smaker maten?

15 06 2009

090515_2484Det er et bra innlegg i VG skrevet av Tommy Østhagen angĂ„ende bruk av marinader. De tre vanlige metodene som man kan bruke til Ă„ gi mer smak til maten, er 1) salt/pepper eller en krydderblanding, 2) marinade, og 3) en sĂ„kalt “paste”.

Tommy er ikke sĂŠrlig glad i marinader, og jeg er ogsĂ„ en av dem som ikke synes at marinader er guds gave til grilling. En marinade som inneholder sukker vil lett bli brent, og en marinade med syre (de aller fleste marinader inneholder syre: sitrusfrukt, vin osv.) vil pĂ„virke overflaten av kjĂžttet eller fisken (med langtids-marinering av kjĂžtt sĂ„ blir overflaten av kjĂžttet “mushy”). Kanskje enda viktigere er at en marinade fort kan bli dyr siden vi ofte bruker friske urter, vin og andre kostbare ingredienser. I den vanlige norske grill-hverdagen, der grillingen er basert pĂ„ “Ă„ hekkan, endelig sol og varme”, kan en marinade vĂŠre upraktisk rett og slett fordi man ikke har tid til Ă„ vente.

Jeg er uenig i Tommys pĂ„stand om at marinering Ăždelegger kjĂžttet, men det hĂžres mer ut som om han prĂžver Ă„ lage et poeng av “farene” som kan oppstĂ„ ved bruk av marinader. Det er i hvert fall viktig Ă„ passe godt pĂ„ marineringstiden for Ă„ fĂ„ mest igjen for bruk av denne prosessen.

Tommy sier i innlegget “Grill fĂžrst, tilsett smak til slutt”. Det er ingen problem Ă„ krydre ferdig-grillet mat, men jeg vil absolutt anbefale at man krydrer maten fĂžr den legges pĂ„ grillen (eller stekes i en panne, eller bakes i ovnen, eller whatever). Jeg vil alltid ha “hoveddelen” av kryddersmaken “pĂ„ plass” fĂžr maten varmebehandles, og jeg vil ogsĂ„ alltid ta en siste sjekk rett fĂžr maten serveres. Jeg tar dette sĂ„ langt at jeg alltid har bitte litt salt og pepper pĂ„ f eks lĂžk og/eller andre grĂžnnsaker som jeg bruker som basisen for en saus, suppe eller gryterett.

Mat som smaker

Jeg er selv tilhenger av krydderblandinger og “pastes”. En krydderblanding (enda bedre, flere typer krydderblanding) er rimelig Ă„ produsere, og ikke minst praktisk siden man kan lage blandingene i begynnelsen av grillsesongen, slik at disse er klar til bruk til enhver tid. En annen fordel er at en krydderblanding ikke pĂ„virker konsistensen pĂ„ kjĂžttet eller fisken.

En “paste” er egentlig en kombinasjon av krydderblanding og marinade. Her blander man tĂžrkede urter og kryddersorter sammen med f eks friske urter, sitronskall, knust hvitlĂžk eller chili, og andre ingredienser. Da bruker man kun nok vĂŠske (vanligvis olje) til Ă„ fĂ„ en tykk blanding som kan smĂžres pĂ„ fiske- eller kjĂžttstykkene. Dette er en fantastisk mĂ„te Ă„ gi mer smak til maten, pĂ„ en enkel og passe rimelig mĂ„te. BĂžr prĂžves.

Her er en oppskrift for en “paste” som brukes i Mexico og helt ned til store deler av SĂžr-Amerika. Den heter adobo, og selv om det finnes massevis av forskjellige oppskrifter for den, sĂ„ inneholder den alltid chili.

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Knowledge is good. So is beer.

07 06 2009

beer-is-good1

In a way itÂŽs kind of sad having to admit that one of my favorite movies of all time is National LampoonÂŽs Animal House.

Animal House came out in 1978. The film starred (among others) Donald Sutherland (yeah, Jack Bauer®s dad), Tom Hulce (who later played Mozart in ”Amadeus”), Kevin Bacon and folk-singer-who-pretty-much-nobody-remembers, Stephen Bishop. The funniest character in the film is Bluto, played by John Belushi. The year is 1962, and the movie is about fraternity life at an average American college.

I was 24 years old when the film was released, the perfect age to be permanently scarred by BelushiÂŽs ”food fight” scene, or by quotes such as ”Greg, honey, is it supposed to be this soft?” or (Belushi again; terribly angry after his fraternity has just been expelled by Dean Wormer): ”Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”

One of my favorite scenes in the film is during the opening scene. Two innocent freshmen, Larry Kroger (Tom Hulce) and Kent Dorfman (Stephen Furst), are strolling around the Faber campus, and they stumble upon the statue of the school®s founder Emil Faber. The inscription on the statue is ”Knowledge is good”.

Animal House covers pretty much all of the big issues in life: love, hate, religion, politics, sex, cars, and of course the two biggies: food and beer. The only topic of importance not covered in this film is barbecue, something I am sure the writers now regret.

The following recipe is an homage to days gone by, days when I was nurtured by films like Animal House, The Exorcist and The Deer Hunter, and music from Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder, King Crimson and Steely Dan. And of course the foods of my youth, including great Mexican food and American food with deep roots in the Mexican kitchen.

 

Chili con Carne
Vegetable oil (sunflower oil is good)
3 medium onions, roughly chopped
2 œ lb. beef sirloin, in 1 inch cubes
2 œ lb. ground beef

Sea salt and ground black pepper
2 Tbs ground cumin (best if you grind the seeds yourself)
2 – 3 Tbs chili powder, to taste
2 Tbs Hungarian sweet paprika
1 Tbs freshly-ground black pepper
Cold water
2-3 canned chipotle chiles, minced
2-3 fresh jalapeño chiles, minced
Sea salt

 

For my Norwegian audience:

Solsikkeolje
3 middelstore lĂžk, grovhakkede
1 kg ytrefilet av okse, skÄret i 2,5 cm terninger
1 kg grovkvernet hamburgerdeig (ja, det gÄr greit med vanlig kjÞttdeig)

Havsalt og kvernet sort pepper
2 ss malt spiskummen
2 – 3  ss chilipulver (vanlig ”butikk-chilipulver”)
2 ss paprikapulver (best med ungarsk paprika)
1 ss kvernet sort pepper
Kaldt vann
2-3 chipotle-chili fra boks, finhakkede
2-3 fersk lalapeño-chili, finhakkede
Havsalt

Saute the onions in oil in a large frying pan. Soften the onions and remove from the pan.  Add a bit more oil and brown the meat, a little at a time. Season the meat lightly with salt and 1 Tbs pepper during the browning process. When the meat has been browned, put the onions and meat in a large pot (cast iron is best).

Add the cumin, chili powder, paprika and pepper and cook for 5 more minutes (watch your heat so that the spices donÂŽt burn). Add enough water to cover the meat and bring to a boil. Add the the chipotles to the mix. Reduce heat and simmer (uncovered!) until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened.

Check for salt during the last hourŽs cooking time. Add the minced jalapeños during the last half hourŽs cooking time.

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Vegetarianere hater meg!

31 05 2009

ElvisLaks: The Return (live from Stavanger)

Jeg er glad i alle hardarbeidende, lojale, kjekke, leserne mine. De av dere som leser denne bloggen, er folk som setter pris pÄ god mat, et bedre glass vin eller to, og ikke minst er dere folk som har sans for en helt-ned-pÄ-jorda mÄte Ä se pÄ matverden.

So far, so good.

SĂ„ var det dette med vegetarianere. Det er ikke slik at jeg hater vegetarianere (no really, I mean it – trust me on this one). Min egen bror kaller seg for vegetarianer, selv om han spiser bĂ„de fisk og skalldyr. Han bruker forresten ogsĂ„ skinnsko og -belte, men det tar vi en annen gang. Nei, jeg synes at vegetarianere, bĂ„de de veldig fĂ„ ”ekte” blant dem, og andre som spiser sjĂžmat, til favorittene mine: jeg-er-vegetarianer,-men-jeg-spiser-fisk-og-eh-bacon-(men-bare-av-og-til).

NÄr jeg snakker med vegetarianere og peskatarianere (de som ogsÄ spiser sjÞmat) sÄ fÄr jeg alltid en fÞlelse (iallfall etter hvert, etter jeg har sagt det jeg mener om saken), at de hater meg. Paranoid? Kanskje, men 


Den rĂžde fisken

Det hÞres kanskje lite patriotisk ut, men jeg er ikke noen kjempe-fan av laks. Mine favoritt fiskemÄltider har hovedsakelig vÊrt med hvit fisk: kveite, piggvar, torsk, osv. Lakseproblemet mitt skyldes muligens et par for mange middager med kokt laks med for lite-eller-ingenting salt (og heller ikke noe annet pÄ). Et fett stykke laks, kokt i vann, og med lite salt, er en kombinasjon jeg ikke Þnsker noen som helst, inkludert veggiser.

Men det finnes en del smĂ„ laksemirakler her i livet. RĂžkelaks er et av disse, og likesĂ„ gravlaks. Laks er en fiskesort som virkelig forandrer karakter med hjelp av litt ”eksterne smaker”. Det var de mer eksotiske lakserettene, og ikke minst favoritten gravlaks, som ga meg ideen om Ă„ prĂžve en ny rett for en del Ă„r siden. Ideen gikk pĂ„ Ă„ grille et stykke laks med noen gravlaks-elementer pĂ„. Jeg tenkte at det mĂ„tte vĂŠre en mĂ„te Ă„ kombinere den gode sĂžtlige sennepsausen som vi bruker til gravlaks, sammen med dill som laksen graves med, for Ă„ skape noe ”nytt”.

Til slutt ble denne retten en hel side laks dekket med en grov fransk sennep, brunt sukker og hakket dill. Disse smakene, sammen med den gode smaken av grill, har lenge vĂŠrt en favoritt.

Siste utgaven av denne fisken heter ElvisLaksen: The Return. Jeg hĂžrer stadig vekk om folk som ikke liker laks, men som elsker denne retten. Gled deg.

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GRRRRR 


22 05 2009

 

Med Mississippi-elva i bakgrunnen ...

Med Mississippi-elva i bakgrunnen ...

The new website started up only 2 weeks ago, a couple of days before we left for the barbecue competition in Memphis. Although the plan is to publish most blogs in Norwegian, I still want to mix it all up a bit with the occasional been-away-for-thirty-years stab at my mother tongue.

I feel like the last several months have been a blur of activity: the pizza book (scheduled for release next spring), ĂŒber-hectic life in Uthuset (it seems like everyone wants to learn more about grilling, thank you very much), the closing of Craigs KjĂžkken (r.i.p.), the thoroughly enjoyable – and time-consuming project with REMA 1000, putting together the Memphis in May project, smack dab in the middle of the financial crisis, and of course this journey into cyberspace. Les resten av dette innlegget »

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Endelig i Memphis

13 05 2009

 

Det var forfedelig Ä gÄ glipp av fÞrste turdagen i Chicago. De rotet fÊlt hos SAS pÄ Sola og derfor kom vi for seint til flyet i KÞbenhavn. 

Hadde Ă„rhundrets dĂ„rligste “biff” pĂ„ SAS-hotellet, og vi bare tenkte pĂ„ hvordan resten av gjengen hadde det “der borte”.

 

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STERK svinefilet

08 05 2009

paul-kirks-championship-bbq3

Paul Kirk, The Baron of Barbecue, er en av heltene til Grillkongen. Paul er pÄ en mÄte Grillkongen av planeten 


Paul Kirk har en utrolig fin kokebok (alle hans bĂžker bĂžr stĂ„ i hyllene) som heter ”Paul KirkÂŽs Championship Barbecue”. Jeg har lĂ„nt en av hans oppskrifter i dag. Den er en rett som stammer fra Jamaica. Den heter ”Jerk”, og den er bĂ„de sterk og god. Chiliene som brukes i denne oppskriften heter habanero, og er blant verdens sterkeste. VĂŠr forsiktig: I dette tilfellet betyr sterk – STERK! Les resten av dette innlegget »

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Å grille eller ikke Ă„ grille

08 05 2009

Nordmenn har blitt ivrige grillentusiaster, men det er et lite stykke igjen fĂžr det blir amerikanske tilstander i hagen. For oss her i landet blir spĂžrsmĂ„let ”Skal vi grille i dag?”, mens der borte er spĂžrsmĂ„let heller ”Hva skal vi grille i dag?”.

God mat fra grillen er ikke vanskelig Ă„ fĂ„ til, men det krever en visst konsentrasjon for at ting gĂ„r greit. Det med temperaturen pĂ„ grillen er svĂŠrt viktig. Er det for varmt sĂ„ blir maten svidd (eller for mye svidd), og med for lite varme blir maten aldri ferdig. Det er viktig med en jevn, passe kraftig varme. Jeg fyrer aldri opp hele grillen. Jeg vil ha en ”kald” sone der jeg kan legge maten etter hvert. Ofte vil jeg grille over varmekilden til maten fĂ„r en fin farge, og deretter flytte maten til den kalde siden pĂ„ grillen. SĂ„ kan jeg ta ned lokket og la grillen fungere som en ovn.

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